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Plastic sludge and garbage, a blight on the world’s oceans.
A film crew traveled the globe to document the rubbish.
And Julie Andersen of the Plastic Oceans Foundation says what we see is just the tip of the problem.
“Half of the waste actually sinks to the bottom, some plastic sinks to the bottom,and that that remains on the surface actually breaks down."
The filmmakers found trash in ocean gyres, the circulating currents that trap large concentrations of pollution in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans,home of what some have called a plastic island.
“What we found in the center of the Pacific was not a floating island of plastic.What we found was a plastic smog that permeated all the water.And in some parts of the oceans, scientists have found more plastic than the planted."
The debris infects the food chain, sometimes visibly,and more so at the microscopic level, where the plastic particles interact with other pollutants.
“Heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, industrial runoff, it acts like magnets.These toxins hitchhike on the plastic, and then when seafood ingests the plastics, those toxins offload into the fatty tissues.”
To be consumed by other sea life and by people.
China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are the worst plastic polluters.The United States, although a leader in recycling, is one of the world’s 20 since it produces and consumes so much plastic.
There are efforts around the world to address the problem, including at this newly opened recycling center in Lebanon.
But Andersen says there is more that people can do.
“Cut back on single-use plastics, straws, plastic cups, plastic water bottles, plastic bags and find alternatives like reusable materials."She says healthy oceans are essential to our survival.
Mike O’Sullivan, VOA news, Los Angeles.
